Shakespeare's Comedies: Identity and Illusion

This course explores the range of Shakespeare's writing of comedy from the early romantic comedies, through the "mature" and "problem" comedies, to the tragicomic romance of the last plays. The course will consider early modern and recent ideas about comedy as a genre and mode, and trace the ongoing engagement of the plays with various interpenetrating thematic debates such as those concerning racial difference and gender identity. An early interest in illusion leads to a focus on the shifting and unstable nature of perception and identity, linked on the one hand to the effects of love and desire, and on the other to notions of the theatrical. These interests lead to a comic and comedic exploration of the nature and growth of the self, the problems of desire and of gendered identity, and the ways in which these may be addressed through the comic form.   Credit level: 10 Year taken: Year 3 Undergraduate SCQF level: 20

Not running in 2025/26